Coastal Battle Pits Surfers Against Green Power

Anybody who surfs or swims off the coast of Southern California knows the power of ocean waves. Wave action is currently being used to generate electricity in Europe, but it has not caught on in the United States.

But the federal goverment has granted permission to JD Products of Fountain Valley to begin a three-year feasibility study for a wave farm a mile off San Onofre State Beach. By locating the wave power generators there, the company plans to utilize the transmission lines already used by the nuclear plant there to feed power to the region.

A solar power plant in the Mojave Desert was derailed by concerns over high-voltage transmission lines snaking across pristine wilderness, so this plan seemed like a good one.

Unfortunately, it has run afoul of local surfers who enjoy hanging 10 next to a nuclear plant but worry about the effect that green power generators will have on the surf.

The "not-in-my-backyard" attitude sank the radioactive waste disposal plan for Yucca Mountain in Nevada. It’s frequently behind the rallying cries of those who don’t want RVs or sober-living homes in their neighborhoods.

I certainly understand the rationale for not wanting a nuclear power plant or offshore oil rigs in one’s backyard, but isn’t it a bit parochial to oppose green power generation?

It’s time to allow pilot projects to go ahead that actually are pro-environment in the long term, even if they might change the status quo. It's particularly worthwhile when the effort has the potential to generate as much green power in California as this one does.

Who knows, maybe we'll be able to tap wave power one day for the vast quantitities of electricity needed for sea water desalination?